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USF, FSU, Florida having good times with right football coaches

 
USF coach Willie Taggart, under fire less than two months ago, has led the Bulls to bowl eligibility.
USF coach Willie Taggart, under fire less than two months ago, has led the Bulls to bowl eligibility.
Published Nov. 25, 2015

It's great to be a Florida Gator.

And a Florida State Seminole.

And a USF Bull.

In Florida, it's great to be a college football fan. Unless you're UCF or Miami, but we'll get to those guys later.

You like winners? You like bowl games?

You like teams in the running for conference titles? You like teams in the running for national titles?

This is the place for you.

Do the Gator chomp or the tomahawk chop or throw the horns.

For the big three in these parts — Florida, FSU, USF — the 2015 season has been when the world has been put back on its axis and all is right again.

The Gators have lost only one game. They will play in the Dec. 5 SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. They have a shot, albeit a long one, to get to the national championship playoffs.

The Seminoles aren't going to win a national title like they did two years ago or reach the semifinals like they did a season ago. But they are a strong 9-2 with the only losses coming on a fluke blocked field goal and at the No. 1 team in the country.

And the Bulls have resurrected their program after Skip Holtz drove it into a ditch. USF has won six of seven to move to 7-4 and still has a shot to play in the American Athletic Conference championship. The Bulls are bowl bound for the first time since 2010.

What has been the secret to all of the success?

Well, it's really no secret at all. College football is all about coaching and the Seminoles, Gators and Bulls have three pretty good ones.

With that, let's go back to UCF and Miami for a moment. Who are their coaches?

They don't have coaches, they have substitute teachers. George O'Leary quit in Orlando and Al Golden was fired in Miami. Getting rid of a coach midseason is a sure-fire way to wreck a program.

O'Leary quit eight winless games into the season and, since then, the Knights have gone 0-3 while being outscored 141-44.

Golden was fired after a 58-0 loss to Clemson, and Miami has gone 3-1 since, including a you've-got-to-be-kidding, multi-lateral kickoff return that should never have counted.

Those programs are up in the air and an example of what unstable coaching can mean.

The three programs rolling right now have stable coaching.

True, Florida made a big change after Will Muschamp flamed out. But the hiring of Jim McElwain has restored consistency and direction into a program that appeared rudderless. He has the Gators far ahead of schedule despite missing his best offensive player, suspended quarterback Will Grier, for the past five games.

Prediction: With a Treon Harris-led offense stuck in neutral, the Gators aren't going to score enough to beat either FSU on Saturday or (most likely) Alabama in the SEC title game. But even if that prediction comes true, the Gators have had one heck of a season and have one heck of a bright future under McElwain. This will not be a one-hit wonder. Florida is back.

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The only concern FSU is having these days is whether coach Jimbo Fisher would leave to take an LSU job that isn't even officially open yet. You certainly can understand why LSU would want Fisher if it gets rid of Les Miles. Fisher, a former offensive coordinator at LSU, is 67-13 since taking over for the legendary Bobby Bowden in 2010. That includes a 36-3 record over the past three seasons.

Fisher would be a fool to leave the ACC if the money is all the same. His lone competition, for the moment, is Dabo Swinney and Clemson and Dabo is no Nick Saban. The SEC is full of land mines that can get even good coaches in trouble. Right, Les?

FSU is lucky to have Fisher and vice versa.

Then there is USF and Willie Taggart, who waited until the right moment to jump-start the USF bus and drive his job into security. With rumors swirling that Taggart's job was on the line if the Bulls didn't reach a bowl game, USF shook off a 1-3 start and can reach eight wins with a victory Thanksgiving night against winless UCF.

A win Thursday and one more after (either the AAC championship or a bowl game), and the Bulls will have had their best season since 2007. And, oh yeah, a ninth victory would equal the best in the program's history.

College football has a funny way of working things out. On top one day, on the bottom the next.

LSU was ranked No. 2 just a minute ago and now boosters want to run Miles out of town. Muschamp led the Gators to 11 wins and a top-10 ranking three years ago and now he's the defensive coordinator at Auburn. Speaking of Auburn, Gene Chizik won a national title in 2010 and was fired two years later.

On and on it goes.

Mark Richt is on a perpetual hot seat at Georgia. Texas is a mess. Michigan and Nebraska have run off good coaches.

Programs are constantly looking for the next Saban or Urban Meyer or Bob Stoops — a coach who can lead a program to success for years.

Right now, Florida, FSU and USF might have such coaches.

That's a great thing.